Is it difficult to get a job as a Medical Office Specialist?
Asked by angelr
I live in Michigan and I am very interested in going to school to become a Medical Office Specialist. But I don't want to waste my time or money going into a field that I am going to have a difficult time finding a job in once I am finished. I've been comtemplating on going to school to become a Medical Assistant instead because at least that is a common field and is probably not as difficult to get a job in once finished with the program although my heart is really into becoming a Medical Office Specialist , i don't want to go into that field if I am going to have a difficult time finding employment once I am finished. Can someone please offer me some advice on what I should do?

Best Answer:
I can understand your trepidation in going into a field not fully certain that there are jobs available. Several months ago, I had looked into a program for medical office specialist which is basically a medical office assistant program where one tends to learn medical billing, receptionist duties including answering phones, scheduling and canceling appointments, some coding training, medical office procedures which includes learning transcription and perhaps anatomy and physiology and medical terminology. The medical assistant program, however, would most likely also teach hands-on clinical skills (as well as administrative procedures) such as EKG (electrocardiogram and it's abbreviated ekg as it's easier to say :), phlebotomy (drawing blood) and urinalysis procedures. If your heart is really in the medical office aspect, you may be miserable in a clinical medical assistant program and want to drop out or such. The medical assistant program will most likely allow the person to be more marketable on the up side. I'm not sure that there are many jobs in either field. My cousin has been working as a medical biller for a billing company for three years now and has been wanting to get another job for several months with no avail as the job market for medical billers isn't abundant at all despite what the schools will tell you :) Please note that there are online 'career' schools that may not be accredited or looked at as reputable according to employers such as stratford career institute and penn foster. Online colleges in the same category are University of Phoenix, Strayer University, Kaplan U, Devry U.
For US colleges and universities (including community colleges): www.utexas.edu/world/univ From the US Occupational Outlook Handbook: www.bls.gov/oco and can type into search 'medical office specialist' or 'medical assistant' and there may be other resources listed. I'm not sure though that they will have accurate info regarding job availability. Take good care.
Answered by jannsody